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Unique and effective ideas and tips for creating Amazing Magic when Staging & Designing the perfect Ambiance

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Top 5 Most Popular Home Styles in California

How to distinguish between the different styles…

 

1. Cape Cod homes have a symmetrical appearance. They have a centered front entry, a centered chimney, and steep roofs. They are often simple, timeless, and have a clean silhouette. This is the type of house a child would draw when told to draw a home.
 2. Spanish-style homes usually consist of stucco walls and low-pitched red-tiled roofs. They have round-arched windows and entries. When entering the home, they often have natural wood beams on the ceilings.

3. Tuscan homes are usually constructed with limestone, travertine, or marble with terracotta roof tiles. They consist of terracotta roof tiles, stone walls, wrought iron accessories, mosaic-like flooring, and sturdy hardware such as railings and light fixtures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Tudor homes reflect the late Medieval and early Renaissance design. They are asymmetrical, steeply pitched roofs, brick exterior walls, and hand-hewn half-timbering. Some of their key features are the overhead wood beams on the ceiling and brick or stone driveways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Victorian homes represent high status during the Victorian era. Some of their key features are their bay windows, dentils, and grand columns. These homes consist of multiple bedrooms, double doors, grand balconies, detailed interior trim, and ornate stairways.

Our Amazon Home Favorites

Amazon is a great place to find some products and deals if you don’t have the time to go searching and shopping. We compiled a list of some of our favorite Amazon products so you don’t have to go looking for them.

Round Ottoman with Storage: With this ottoman/table, you can easily store blankets, toys, or extra items that you may not want laying around your living room. The flat, hard surface can be perfectly used as a table as well. It has a simple and modern design, which makes it easy to style with any kind of living space. 

Countertop corner organizer: This countertop storage organizer is great for the bathroom or kitchen. Store your everyday bathroom products, seasoning, or anything you may use on a day-to-day basis and want it to be easily accessible. You can also find another great countertop corner organizer if you click here.

Flameless Candles With Timer: These energy-saving LED candles with a timer are perfect for the evenings at home to avoid using electricity and protect from the dangers of a flame. 

Woven Seagrass Basket: This handmade, woven basket is great for storage, and use as a laundry, picnic, or grocery basket.

Arched Full-Length Mirror: This modern and contemporary full-length mirror is great for the bedroom or living room. It is made with excellent quality and is easily installable.

Four-Layer Foldable Makeup Box: The four-tray design makes it easy to use this box at home with all your products, and fold it up when traveling. It’s more lightweight than an aluminum make-up bag and comes with a built-in mirror.

Two-Pack Blue Light Glasses: These blue light glasses are perfect for alleviating visual fatigue and discomfort from long periods of web surfing, gaming, and working under fluorescent lights with UV400 protection and glare reduction.

Digital Alarm Clock: This alarm clock allows you to either set two or three alarms to better WAKE you up. One for you and the other for your families. Forever Say no to delay. Also, it allows you to set weekday mode, which will ring only from Monday to Friday. It’s not only a clock but also a great decoration for your bedroom.

 

Easy and Affordable Ways to Elevate Your Home

Make the Entreeway a Focal Point

Improving your entryway can make a huge impact on your home’s curb appeal. Use a dark color on the door to make the entryway pop, and add two large symmetrical planters at the walkway.

Create the Illusion of a High Ceiling

High ceilings are a key feature in expensive homes but if your home doesn’t come with original high ceilings, it can be costly to physically raise the ceiling height. Luckily, there is a trick to creating an illusion for high ceilings. By hanging the curtain rod closer to the ceiling, and using long flowing drapes, you can create a more luxurious look. 

Use a Neutral and Light Canvas

Painting the walls a neutral color such as white, cream, or light gray creates a clean look before adding decor and furniture. This gives you the flexibility to use colors without clashing and cluttering the home.

Apply Removable Wallpaper 

To spice up a room, bathroom, or hallway, consider adding a simple but statement wallpaper to one wall that catches the eye when entering the room. 

Pull Your Furniture Away from  the Walls

Pulling your furniture away from the walls creates more space and utilizes the room better. Setting the furniture at least 12” from the walls, makes the room look more inviting and cozy.

Keep Entryways Clear 

One of the worst things to do when organizing your furniture is to place a large piece of furniture right in front of the entryway. When you walk into the room, if there’s a sofa in front of the entree, this automatically closes off the room. Create openings by rearranging the furniture so your guests can walk directly into an open and inviting room.

Paint Kitchen & Bathroom Cabinets and Replace Hardware 

 Instead of completely replacing your kitchen and bathroom cabinets, painting them a light color will brighten up the space, and make it look larger and more expensive. To give it an extra sleek and new look, replacing the hardware with affordable gold, brass, satin nickel, or black styles from Target or Amazon can freshen up the look of your kitchen and bathroom.

Hide Clutter from Wires

Another important way to make your home look more elevated is by removing any additional clutter, especially from TV and computer wires. An easy way to do this is by concealing them with cord covers from Amazon or The Home Depot. They can be easily installed with a hacksaw and some screws, then painted the same color as your wall to seamlessly blend in. 

Add a Beautiful Light Fixture

Adding a light fixture that catches the eye and lights the room can be a simple way to accelerate a living room, dining room, or master bedroom. It doesn’t need to be an expensive or extravagant fixture. Something that creates a layer of sophistication.

Create a Small Appliance Hideaway

Recent modern and luxury homes include a kitchen that is sleek and free of appliances on countertops. At first look at the kitchen, a guest does not see a microwave, toaster, or coffeemaker. That is because these appliances are hidden behind a cabinet door that matches the rest of the kitchen cabinets. This shouldn’t be too costly, considering a door can be added with basic required wood and cabinet hardware. To give it an extra clean look, you can even ask a professional to create a cabinet to hide away the refrigerator. 

Our Thoughts on Ashley Tisdale’s Self-Designed Home

Ashley’s modern/bohemian home is one of a kind. She mentions that when she found the home. it was move-in ready and all she had to do was furnish it in her own way. The 1971 Mario Bellini sofa fits so effortlessly into the room along with the Apparatus coffee table. Even though the Sabin chairs seem to match the texture and color of the rest of the furniture in the living room, I’m personally not a huge fan of the animal skin-like fabric. Instead, I myself would have used a set of wooden chairs to pull the room together.

She mentions that she was never into color in her home, but while she was pregnant she had the feeling that she wanted to add a fun pop of color throughout the house. I must say that she did a fantastic job by adding just the right splash of color with small flowers, pink blankets, and colorful books on the bookshelf.

As she moves along to her dining room, it seems to be an average dining room but the custom-made chairs are out of the ordinary. These chairs are made by Stall and Band and have a green moss-like cushion. Initially, my thought was “that’s an odd fabric” about the chairs, but as I viewed the rest of the room, I found how well it fit with the wooden designed dining room and surrounding trees on the outside of the house.

Her minimalistic kitchen designed in black, white, and wood is lovely. The only negative aspect of this kitchen is that it has a minimum amount of storage. Bowls, plates, etc are placed on shelves underneath the kitchen table which make the kitchen look a bit cluttered and distracts from the actual design of the kitchen. From my point of view, if she replaces the dining room table/center island with an island with storage underneath that can be hidden, the kitchen’s design will instantly be elevated and more organized.

My favorite part of the home is undoubtedly her bedroom. She mentions that the room is inspired by a friend’s bedroom which was designed by Brigette Romanek. The use of wood, textures, and tones inspired her to use that in her own bedroom. Some may feel that the furniture in this bedroom clashes with one another, but I feel that it perfectly complements and balances each other out. The lama-like chair with burl wood nightstands and funky lamps is an eye-catching part of the room.

Overall, Ashley Tisdale has a bold sense of style that most people would not feel comfortable experimenting with. Though, I can truly say that she was successful in the eccentric compilation of furniture and decor.

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas 2022

Mother’s Day is approaching quickly and when we’re not prepared, we end up scuffling to find a gift last-minute. Most of the time, we end up at the flower market ordering an overpriced bouquet of flowers. This year let’s do better. Let’s prepare a special gift for the woman who raised you and loved you. I’ve pulled together a list of gift ideas any mother would love.
1. Book her a solo day at the spa to release any built-up tension since last year.
2. An airtag since she’s always losing her keys or wallet.
3. A custom name bracelet or necklace. This would be even more special if it had her children’s names on it.
4. An apple watch to help her keep track of her health.
5. A sunrise alarm for the early bird moms.
6. A silk pillowcase which is good for her hair and great for her skin!
7. Comfortable Slippers for the house
8. If she’s a book worm, find a book that she hasn’t read yet.
9. A framed picture of you/your family with a letter expressing your appreciation.
10. If you’re on a budget, cook her a nice dinner or bake some cookies! In the end, it’s the thought that counts, not the dollar amount spent.

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